Academic medical centers are very important to the healthcare
system as they provide a wide variety of basic and specialized
services for their patients and the communities they serve. AMCs are
also the main cite for graduate medical student and research they
work hand in hand with medical schools. “AMCs have a small
operational footprint. According to data from the American
Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), AAMC-affiliated teaching
hospitals accounted for only 5 percent of all hospitals in 2014”
(George Washington University’s Online Healthcare MBA, 2021).
Often AMCs do not face staffing issues because of their partnership
with medical schools but do have a limited reach on what services
they can offer. They are constantly working with residents and recent
graduates. They also rely on public funding which can be both a good
thing and a bad thing because funding becomes limited. This can
cause the medical center to be limited on what they can and cannot
do. Also, a lot of AMCs patients rely on public health insurance like
Medicaid and Medicare. This can translate to health insurance not
paying for every medical procedure and patients having overdue
balances. Which can affect the financial stance of the organization
and cause issues in the future.
When we look at not-for-profit organizations, they have a
broader area to deal with. There organization can deal with a variety
of specializations in the same building and hire different types of
medical professionals. This will contribute to the employees since
they are able to hire for different positions, they can offer their
patients the best care possible. This can also translate to the types of
patients they deal with; their patients can vary between those that
deal with government insurance and those that have private
insurance. Having this balance can help with the financial standpoint
of the organization and help them grow as a medical facility. “About
60 percent of community hospitals are nonprofit, all community
health centers are nonprofit, almost 30 percent of nursing homes are
nonprofit, and about 17 percent of home health care agencies are
estimated to be nonprofit” (UCF, 2021). Not-for-profits organizations
play a pivotal role in communities because of what they provide for
the community in which they serve. They look more into the quality
of care they provide, the customer service, and the opportunities they
offer rather than the revenue they bring in. They use the profit they
gain and reinvest it to better the health, well-being, and service they
provide to the public.
If a for-profit was built within my community it would cause a
disruption in the finances of the community. The cost for treatment
and medical services will most likely go up since they are looking to
gain revenue off the services they are providing. Patients will start to
be denied service based on their financial and insurance status which
will cause a ripple effect on the population in that community. We
can start to see the spread of illnesses and diseases, as well as the
increase of patients facing medical financial burdens
References
George Washington University’s Online Healthcare MBA. (2021, July 7). The Differences
Between Academic and Community Medical Centers. George Washington University.
https://healthcaremba.gwu.edu/blog/the-differences-between-community-and-
academic-medical-centers/
UCF. (2021, April 28). Nonprofit Health Organizations and Career Opportunities. UCF
Online. https://www.ucf.edu/online/healthcare/news/the-role-of-nonprofit-health-
organizations/
